practice
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Harmonics for flautists
Harmonics are our best teachers! We can learn so much about how we are using (or not using) our airstream, intonation, note beginnings and endings, legato, and more! Because the flute has many keys and fingering possibilities, we can sometimes neglect what actually creates sound: ourselves! When we play harmonics, however, the fingers are left…
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Five inspirational flute study books for the year ahead
Study books are a must for all flute players. Try these cracking volumes to help you reach the next level.
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Five charming flute pieces to play before grade 5.
It’s always good to explore new repertoire prior to taking the next exam. These gems are wonderful at any time. Emile Kronke: Five Miniatures for Flute and Piano Op 92 Here are some more delightful pieces from Emil Kronke. He writes so well for developing players, keeping the technical challenges simple but adding sumptuous harmonies…
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Five fabulous study books for flute
Need a practice re-set? Look no further than these imaginative studies guaranteed to get you thinking! Aleksey Igudesman: Magical Spells for Solo Flute These ten short pieces are really quite difficult and they are certainly different. There are some that require good tonal inflection, such as ‘Open Sesame!’ others like’ Izzy wizzy, lets get busy!’…
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Benjamin Godard Waltz: Practice Tips
Here are my practice tips for the tricky, yet wonderfully joyful Waltz (Valse) by Godard, from his Suite de Trois Morceaux. Here’s a video of me demonstrating the exercises given below. Waltz character From the 1st bar, the character is exuberant and joyous. There are many examples of Waltzes in classical music. Some are more serene…
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Five Inspirational Solo Flute Pieces Fit for a Recital
If you are already starting to plan your end-of-year recital, add the wow factor with one of these brilliant contemporary pieces for solo flute.
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Saint-Saëns Romance: practice tips
The Romance by Camille Saint-Saëns is one of my absolute favourite pieces – full of warmth and charm and not without its challenges. I recently did a warm-up video for the British Flute Society‘s Warm up Wednesday series and used some simple warm-up exercises centred around this piece. So, here is a blog to give…
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A “pressing” issue
To press or not to press? That is the question for many flute players, especially in the early stages of learning, and there are a few different opinions on this which I would like to discuss and offer my own thoughts. When we are first taught the flute, we are told to blow across the…
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Chaminade Concertino – Practice Tips
Following on from my Taffanel blog, here is a practice guide for another great French work: Chaminade’s Concertino. This piece is played a lot, but quite often with some important details overlooked. As I say to my students, “don’t be an overlooker”! I will also give some tips for practising some of the tricky passages.…
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“What Should I be Practising?”
Learning the flute (or any musical instrument) is not always a smooth process of steady improvement. We all learn in different ways with our own strengths and weaknesses, so there will be times when things can get frustrating if one feels they are not improving as much as they would like. Other factors also affect…